Backyard Blues!

The excessive heat has moderated a little but now we are faced with rain - non of it too heavy and not constant!  However, even showers that come and go most of the day can make things uncomfortably damp. The plants love it and my lawn is well out of control. For the last three days I have walked out on the grass first thing in the morning to check how 'squishy' it is under my feet.When I make wet muddy marks in the ground I know it is impossible for the mower!  Here's hoping for later today!
What I do not understand is why so many birds love it. The other morning quite a large flock of Lorikeets flew over. Then I heard a few that had settled in the palms along my boundary fence. No flowers there so what had attracted them? I moved slowly around hoping to get a better view. Fortunately, I did click one photo from a less than perfect angle and then they all flew off. The photo shows 4 birds but I counted 8 as they flew past me.

Later I saw that the birds were eating from the bunch of seeds these palms have grown this year.

Next day I tried for a better photo when I heard the birds again but a rain shower started again and I went inside very damp and had to quickly dry  drops off the camera as well.  Photos showed even more damp than I had realized and even the bird's plumage showed damp!

For more photos from around the world visit Our World Tuesday.

Low Tide

Finally I am posting again !  First the excessive heat broke but in typical Queensland fashion we then got very heavy rain. Right around where  I live we escaped the floods BUT water plus heat makes a sauna! Even typing at my computer is enough to make the perspiration run!  Contrary  to  what you northerners are saying we are consoling ourselves with the thought that summer must soon come too an end!

After my last two posts I needed to show what low tide is like on the bay around here.  After  seeing what high tide looks like it is a little hard to imagine low tide in the same places. The bay has very low gradients all over so contrary to what it looks like it is possible to walk out for a very long way. I have watched fishermen wade back to shore from such a distance out that I have not been able to recognize them until they got almost back  This photo shows the little creek that the boats use to launch only a few meters further up stream.  The water now is only ankle deep - I have frequently walked all over this area.  The creek divides here and the deepest channel is over by the mangrove trees in the background.

 of course, this wide expanse of sand is ideal for shorebirds to feed. The birds roost up on higher ground as the tide comes in but then follow the water as it falls away. Sand is softer where it is close to the water and the long beaks on the shorebirds can be damaged if they are knocked on hard things. I have occasionally seen a bird with a beak pushed out of shape but I am told that they will die quickly because they can't eat like this. On very low tides one only sees birds right down along the channels in the distance. Way out close to a channel I have found there is more mud than sand and it is definitely not good for watching birds. Shorebird watching needs to be done close to one of their high tide roosts. Shorebirds use the same high tide roosts day after day - and even year after year. From our observations around the bay we have seen slight changes in the birds' preferences for roosts because of the tide height.

I don't have anything new or exciting for bird photos I WILL NOT  and CAN NOT go bird watching in this heat!! BUT there is nothing more Australian than a kookaburra. I think they have been increasing around my house because I have been hearing a group of them giving their group call very early in the morning for some mornings now. I am told that this is a group territorial call.  The first bird was sitting up on the roof of my house and the other bird was on a tree close to my friend's house,

For more photos from around the world visit Our World Tuesday 

and for more birds visit Wild Bird Wednesday